Making up stories

[Greenway]

I told my Social Worker's supervisor that the reason I had tried to take my own life after my husband's bad tail-spin was that I wanted him to save me as he would have done previously and I suddenly realised that he couldn't. Her response was 'well, you obviously don't understand dementia'. I wanted to scream at her that - No, who does when they are first confronted with it?

I really wonder what that social worker understands about dementia if they don’t realise what the effect is on the whole family. Personally I don’t have a lot of time for them.

 

[sunshine chrissy]

So, I get that people with Alzheimer's can't remember what happened a few minutes ago, but can often remember the distant past with clarity.
But what about making up stories from the past that never happened, e.g.

Today she said she's been to the Donnington rock festival not once, but twice. In over 30 years of marriage she's never seen fit to mention this before (and as rock music is my thing you'd think it would have been mentioned at some point). When asked who the headliners were, she couldn't remember, probably because she wasn't there.

The other day we were speaking to a dog owner in the street who was telling us that she'd had the dog castrated. My wife went on to tell her that all our previous dogs had been castrated (not true) then in the next sentence says we used them at stud (true)!

Anyone else encountered this?

Oh yes! My husband often talks about the time he gave my dad an Ireland football shirt,he never met my dad,he died years before I met my husband.He talks about his brother who died in a swimming pool accident 40 years ago,his version is he was murdered and he battered them,they went to prison and he's heard they died there.We just have to go along with it,it's his reality now and if we try to put him straight he'd just get even more stressed than his brain would allow.It's so bizarre isn't it?

 

[EileenMc]

My husband has recently gone into permanent residential care. Yesterday, he told a visiting doctor (from his new practice) that he was a judge in South Africa for many years, that he adjudicated in the Oscar Pistorius trial, that we then moved to Singapore.....the poor doctor commented to the nursing that my husband had had a very interesting life. They had to explain none of it was true. He was astonished, apparently my husband was very convincing. He told me about a trip he had taken, when I said I didn't remember it, he said " oh, it was before you died, that's why". I find our conversations take this form more and more, with my response being "oh really, that's interesting". I see no need to correct him, he's happy in his world.

 

[Gooner]

Complete rewite after 36 years together he never wanted to marry me, nor have any kids. Changes our past weekly so upsetting as all those memories made together have gone. Also no empathy with anyone apart from his daughter only one of us he likes

 

[ZZ]

Ahh this has amused me, in the sense that my husband was taken to play golf recently, first time in 5 years and he now tells everyone he got a hole in one! He tells every single person he meets, initially I stupidly corrected him, now of course I have learnt to just let him have it ...

 

[jay6]

Complete rewite after 36 years together he never wanted to marry me, nor have any kids. Changes our past weekly so upsetting as all those memories made together have gone. Also no empathy with anyone apart from his daughter only one of us he likes

Mine should never have married me either. Apparently I've been argumentative, miserable, always picked on him etc. ever since he's known me. Even tells me no one else would want someone like me. I just tell him to look in the mirror